Amazing Water Trick – Amazing Science Tricks Using Liquid

10 Amazing Optical Illusions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBx08UYn4VU
When the arrow is moved to a particular distance behind the glass, it looks like it reversed itself. When light passes from one material to another, it can bend or refract. In the experiment that you just completed, light traveled from the air, through the glass, through the water, through the back of the glass, and then back through the air, before hitting the arrow. Anytime that light passes from one medium, or material, into another, it refracts.

Just because light bends when it travels through different materials, doesn’t explain why the arrow reverses itself. To explain this, you must think about the glass of water as if it is a magnifying glass. When light goes through a magnifying glass the light bends toward the center. Where the light all comes together is called the focal point, but beyond the focal point the image appears to reverse because the light rays that were bent pass each other and the light that was on the right side is now on the left and the left on the right, which makes the arrow appear to be reversed.

Ok, yes it is real and it works. BUT there are a lot of variables (size of arrows, curvature of glass, distance of glass from arrows, camera angle, etc).

To try and replicate, hold a water bottle 5-6 inches from your eye (close one to prevent double image). Hold your other arm out straight in front of you and point a finger towards you. Move this arm left and right while looking through the bottle. It will appear your finger is coming in from the wrong side. If it looks right, move your hand further from the bottle.